In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020, Black Lives Matter, antifa and other Marxist organizations demanded law enforcement agencies be defunded. In an astonishing display of progressive Democrat solidarity, scores of mayors, city councils and county boards of supervisors in cities and counties across our country capitulated to the far left’s demands and sided with rioters, looters, anarchists and arsonists in destroying American cities.
The places most affected by the “defund the police” movement include Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, New York and Minneapolis. As law enforcement budgets in these cities were being cut and experienced officers retired and resigned, the obvious happened: Crime skyrocketed. Worse yet, the people most adversely affected are minority citizens — the very people BLM and other radical groups claim need protection not by the police but from the police.
The toll on Black Americans is staggering. In 2020, the percentage of Black murder victims in Chicago was over 70%. After the police budget was cut, that percentage rose to more than 80%. At the same time in Milwaukee, the percentage of Black murder victims rose from about 60% to nearly 90%. Other “defund the cops” jurisdictions across America have suffered similar results.
Only the ideologically blinded were surprised by the rapid upswing in violent crime resulting from defunding the police. To paraphrase a comment from Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in Federalist No. 51: If men were angels, police wouldn’t be necessary.
But, alas, men are not angels, a fact causing serious concerns for congressional Democrats who must run in 2022. Having already lost seats over this issue to Republicans in the 2020 elections, Democrats are now desperate to distance themselves from the movement.